“It’s been about 10 years,” between bear reports, said Kevin Brennan, an Idyllwild-based wildlife biologist for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Still, the sighting didn’t surprise department officials.

“This time of year the yearling bears are dispersing from their mothers and finding their own way, like a teenager leaving the house for the first time,” department spokesman Andrew Hughan wrote in a message. “There are lots of sightings but contact with people is still pretty rare, thankfully.”

Brennan said May and June are the times when he gets the most calls about bears, but added it’s unusual for bears to possibly cross the 10 Freeway and make it south to the Idyllwild area.

Allan Tiso of Mountain Center said the bear was up near the ranch he lives at for about three days last week.

“He ate about three chickens,” said Tiso. “Just popped them in his mouth. Then ate the chicken feed after eating the chickens.”

At first, Tiso thought the animal might be a coyote or other predator, so when the animal took the first of the chickens, the family put the remaining animals in a more secure enclosure. It didn’t help.

“We kind of armored up, but we had no idea it was a bear,” he said with a chuckle.

At some point, he said, the bear played with his kids’ dinosaur toys.

“He just batted them around between his paws,” he said, estimating the animal’s weight at about 200 pounds. “He seemed to be really into the dinosaurs.”

The sighting was just the latest in the region in the past couple of weeks.

A 250-pound female bear spent a few hours in Indio May 14, and a bear was spotted outside a Banning drug store early May 4. Brennan said the bear seen in Idyllwild has a strong resemblance to the one seen in Banning. It’s not the one from Indio, which he said was relocated to the Santa Rosa Mountains. Those are located along the San Diego County-Riverside County-Imperial County border.

Craig Shultz reports on communities in Riverside County, primarily Hemet, Menifee, Perris and San Jacinto. A journalist for more than three decades, he has reported on everything from sports to city halls and schools. He was previously the editor of The Hemet News and The Valley Chronicle. Shultz was born and raised in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles and graduated from Cal State Northridge.